Yesterday was my birthday!
Now that I'm done reflecting on and celebrating another year gone by, I can also look back on the games I beat in August. And no, you're not imagining it - I didn't do a July summary because I didn't complete any games that month! I was too busy binging a lot of shows I wanted to catch up on.
I wasn't able to play and beat 31 games for each year of my life leading up to my birthday, but I came pretty close with 6
Here are my thoughts on them:
-256 -
Free on Steam - A retro, pixelated first person mystery game in which a blogger gets a cursed game file emailed to him, which of course he gets sucked into and wakes up turned into a Staff Bot at a hotel. All the menial tasks his manager needs him to do will help him (you) escape the game. This game has a great start and hooks you immediately. For such a basic game, there is a lot of care put into the details. The walking is a little too floaty for me, and the songs in each area get repetitive, but the seemingly insignificant tasks you have to do are in fact quite entertaining, and talking to the NPCs leads to some downright funny interactions. So have fun and wait some tables, lick up puddles of blood, keep an eye out for the rubber ducks, and see if you can escape back to your real life. Definitely worth a play. Just don't do rat mode!
Aerial Knight's Never Yield - Was free on Amazon - Your standard runner. You sprint through cities, forests and buildings, dodging obstacles by performing tricks based on color coded prompts tied to inputs on the D-pad. I had no attachment to my character because I didn't know anything about him. The story, what little of it there was, is that you're some experiment(?) named Wally that broke free from a lab that promptly sent Asset Recovery teams and a dark clone after you to retrieve the evidence you stole. Evidence of what? I didn't find out, but I did find out that the version I got through Amazon was missing "Da Update" that the current version of the game has. It includes gameplay & graphics improvements, bonus levels, new music, an endless mode, and story & level updates, including a post-credit scene. So, pretty much everything I disliked about the game (boring environments, boring gameplay, boring story) was addressed by Da Update. Because of that, I feel like I can't give a fair assessment
but I can say Da Update has to be
damn good in order to make this game worth playing. Dope soundtrack though...
Green Reaper -
Free on Steam - A DigiPen student-made hack'n'slash game in which you play as a tiny rose spirit, Rubin
, who must traverse a giant greenhouse and destroy the fungi creatures leeching away the life of all the plants and the goddess statue that sent for you. I got some "Honey, I Shrunk the Kids!" vibes while playing this and wandering amongst the super-sized snake plants, monsteras, pots, trowels, and more. The environment is beautiful, but I found that the camera was too zoomed in to fully enjoy my surroundings. The camera movement was also a little too slow for my taste during combat, which led me to back away from the combat, rotate the camera until I could focus on more enemies, and then continue my assault, rather than have it be one seamless experience. Rubin's attacks are also kind of slow and weak for a hack and slash. The character models are neat, the Latin name of each level is a nice touch, and I can tell the game was made with love and care, so I commend the students, but I will admit that this short game could have been better.
Need for Speed Heat - Was free on Origin via Amazon -
@whatnitrus and my fellow racing fans - this ain't it
What made the best NFS games so good was their simple plots and gameplay - "I'm a street racer and I love to go fast!" "I'm a cop who's gonna fuck up some Bugattis!" "I gota race across the country!", etc. Heat is way to convoluted. It felt like there were two stories - one in which you're a racer trying to get the attention of (and eventually join) the top racer gang The League by besting showcase events. The other half of the story is some kind of cheap bad cop takedown plot where only you are able to expose and dismantle the corrupt Palm City Police Department's high-speed division, run by the mega dickwad duo Mercer and Shaw. It's obvious they were going for Miami Vice vibes in this game, with sexy cars racing sexy streets, but for such a huge map, it felt wicked cramped. Most races were confined to tight circuits, and sprints constantly lost momentum with the incessant switchbacks and 90 degree turns. In free roam/pursuits there were maybe two roads where I felt I could just open it up flat out and really feel some speed. But even those moments were fleeting because of the bullshit NPC car spawning that was some of the worst I'd ever seen in a NFS game. Pro tip - ALWAYS expect a friggin' box truck in the intersection
The soundtrack was abysmal compared to previous games, too, and felt like the same 5 songs on repeat. Worst of all was having to constantly shift parts or cars in order to handle rallys, races, sprints, pursuits, drifts, time trials, off-roading, etc... Just let me race, man! It felt like Heat was leaning too much into simulator territory than the ol' choose a car and drive fast NFS vibes I was hoping for. I still made it to the top of The League, beat those dirty cops, and rode my Koenigsegg Agera off into the sunset, but damn was it underwhelming
Once Upon a Jester - Was free on Amazon - I really liked this game
It's a musical comedy where you play as a theatrical duo, Sok and Jester, who are competing to earn the right to perform at the Princess's Royal Theatrical Spectacle. During which, they plan to steal the giant diamond that the King keeps in his castle where he stares and drools at it 24/7. The writing is so witty and packed with humor that I found myself laughing my butt off watching the performances I put on devolve into hot messes. You perform these shows across 4 towns, starting in Dorp Town, and earn roses by presenting a story in the genre the crowd is in the mood for (environmental clues will point you towards each night's preferred genre). There are about 5-6 branching opportunities in each skit that can take you in hilarious directions. The game is jam-packed with funny accents, fantastic background music, and hilarious cameos and side stories. I loved all the characters in this story, as they were each individually memorable. A wizard with a pinata for a head, a goat that can play piano, talking ice cream cones, pesto-control, and a tree spirit trying to find his roots are but a few of the goofy ensemble you'll meet along the way. Once Upon a Jester is a comedy wrapped in action, love, horror, drama, and song... and it is totally worth a play
Samoliotik - Free on IndieGala Client - This game sucks. I suck at this game. Both statements are true. This top-down pixelated shooter could have been fun thanks to the uniqueness of each level (each is like its own fever dream), but I personally felt that it all fell flat. Bosses don't explode, they just sort of float off screen, so there's no satisfying victory or way of really knowing you beat them. The absurdity of the levels would have been fun if it wasn't for the inconsistent hit boxes. The rate of bullet fire is beyond sluggish, which leads to many, many deaths unless you are able to dodge enough enemies and snag a power up. If you do enjoy pain and misery enough to make it to the end, you are then greeted with a level that has a color scheme that will make your eyes bleed. The creator was obviously hoping that the meme vibes of shooting a giant Hitler face or blasting away at Cthulhu would distract players from the otherwise downright turd that he laid
day! 
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